Veterans rekindle friendship at Timken High class reunion

Friday

Nov 23, 2018 at 7:20 AM

High school buddies -- separated by a half century -- attend 50th reunion of Timken's Class of 1968.

Four former high school buddies have a lot to be thankful for today.

The quartet of friends and classmates at Timken Vocational High School late in the 1960s -- Tim Graham of Medina; Harold "Steve" Owens of Anchorage, Alaska; Gerald Bates of Perry Township; and Carl Eichelberger of East Canton -- attended the 50th reunion of Timken's Class of 1968 at Skyland Pines last month and conversed for the first time in decades. A half century after graduation and military stints separated them, their friendship was rekindled.

"All of them sat at the same table and talked," said Pat Van Camp, a member of the class. "They all seemed to enjoy it and had a great conversation."

The four "talked about personal stuff," said Owens, who had used a phone number he found online to call Graham in Ohio and tell him about the event.

"We had a lot of catching up to do," he said. "We pretty much went back to the same kinds of conversations we had in high school."

After the affair, all four expressed gratitude for the chance to renew that close youthful relationship with which they once were blessed. Owens especially was grateful -- glad to be alive, in fact.

Near the end of the reunion Owens became short of breath and went to the emergency room at Mercy Medical Center, where he underwent open-heart surgery to repair one valve, replace another valve, and fix an aneurysm.

"I couldn't take a deep breath and I told someone at the reunion that if it kept up I was going to have to go to the hospital," recalled Owens, who noted that some retired medical personnel at the reunion checked his oxygen level and pulse rate and advised him that he should go immediately. "I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know it was that bad.

"I sure didn't plan to be down here (in Ohio) this long," said Owens, who is recovering from surgery and still awaiting a doctor's approval for him to fly back to Alaska.

Serving their country

By seeking out Graham on the Internet, then also calling Bates to remind him of the reunion, Owens was the inspiration for the re-tying of the bonds between the four men, a small group of students who had shared both classroom work and outside interests.

"We were great friends in school," Owens recalled. "Tim and I used to go ice skating together. He's the one who got me started in motorcycles. We used to hang out all the time. They all used to take karate lessons, but I had to work, so after they got done and I got off work we'd all go over to Gerald Bates' house and they'd teach me what they had learned that night."

All four men, when they were high school lads, took print shop at Timken. Three of them were in band together, with Owens and Graham both playing trombone. They visited each others' houses often and no doubt talked about what they would like do with their lives.

After graduation, the next step for each of them was service to their country in four different branches of the military.

Eichelberger got drafted into the Marines, then served two years stateside as an officers' cook. Graham enlisted in the Navy and served four years with a crash and rescue team aboard the U.S.S. Midway aircraft carrier. Owens served 20 years in the Air Force, first in communications and then as an aircraft electrician in Florida and Alaska. Bates joined the Army Reserves in Canton and served six years as a "weekend" warrior -- one weekend of training a month and two weeks of camp duty each summer for six years.

They took different paths.

"But, we're all brothers," said Eichelberger.

Bates and Eichelberger remained in Stark County after their service, and both worked at Timken Co. so they have seen each other periodically through the years. Eichelberger is married to his wife, Bonnie, with whom he has a son and a daughter, while Bates and his wife, the parents of two daughters and a son, have been happily married for more than 40 years.

Graham and Owens were more distant in geography. After his service, except for a relatively brief time living in Florida, Owens chose to stay in Alaska, the place of his final Air Force assignment, and worked on small aircraft. Graham returned to Ohio, working for Republic Steel in Canton, then Rubbermaid in Wayne County, and now General Motors near Cleveland. Both are widowers.

"We were best friends in high school," said Graham, "but he enlisted in the Air Force and I went into the Navy and that was the last time we heard from each other."

Catching up

Owens was standing in front of Skyland Pines banquet hall, waiting for his friend, when Graham arrived at the reunion.

"When I first saw him, he was outside the front door," said Graham. "Of all the ones we graduated with, he was the one who looks the most like he did back than. He hasn't changed much at all, so I recognized him right away. Gerald, he didn't change much either. Carl, I don't think I would have recognized him."

Still, faces fall back into a familiar place in the memory after friends -- no matter what their age -- spend time together.

"I was surprised that there were probably 70 to 75 people in our class who showed up," said Bates. "We just kind of talked a little bit about high school. We kind of reminisced about old times. And we talked about going through the period we did, which was such a troubled time with the war going on. They had a memorial at the reunion and I didn't realize that a lot of the guys in my class who went over (to Vietnam) didn't come back."

Bates had just returned with his wife from looking at the memorial to classmates who have been lost when he heard of Owens' medical issues.

"I helped take him out," said Bates. "Then later Tim called me and said he had surgery. Maybe it was a blessing that he came to the reunion. Here I know he got good care. Maybe he was in the right place at the right time."

Owens himself acknowledged that "everybody said Mercy is a good hospital." And, while staying with friends and family, he's had plenty of new-found old buddies standing behind him offering well-wishes during his rehabilitation.

"It was great seeing all these guys -- Tim, Carl, Gerald," said Owens, who noted that all four plan to stay in touch through visits and phone calls and social media now that they have reconnected. "And there were a lot of other classmates we all got to see, as well."

Owens recalled most vividly seeing Graham for the first time in 50 years outside the banquet hall.

"We shook hands and hugged. It was a happy moment."

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